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Grizz's Quote, "Here's a mod that will work. Youngblood has educated some of us on whipping the the end just by using a double sheetbend knot. That involves doubling back the folded hammock end as the larger of the two "ropes" being joined in that knot. If the other cord is short and tied closely to a ring, then that effectively does what you suggest, but without the uncertainty. Grizz."

I have been using the double sheet bend at Youngblood's suggestion for months. In my mind it's the way to go, and I don't make it "slippery" by pulling the end through as a loop. I'm afraid I will loosen it and not remember to double check it and have a disaster, and with a pair of needle nosed pliers I can get it loose if needed. Mule

Grizz & Mule;
I was hoping to eliminate the rope link between the hammock and the ring by folding the hammock directly to the ring. I do understand, however, that the sheetbend tightens under stress, gripping better with increasing load, whereas the grip of the whipping never gets any better than the initial installation. I may try the whipping, but if I do I'll keep an eagle eye on it.

Grizz & Mule;
I was hoping to eliminate the rope link between the hammock and the ring by folding the hammock directly to the ring. I do understand, however, that the sheetbend tightens under stress, gripping better with increasing load, whereas the grip of the whipping never gets any better than the initial installation. I may try the whipping, but if I do I'll keep an eagle eye on it.

Something you could do as protection against the fabric pulling completely through the whipping would be to do a "fat hem" at the end of the fabric, maybe a triple roll hem. This would serve as a jam if things start slipping.

If you just need a loop to tie off to in the middle of rope, a butterfly knot works well for that and is tied without using the ends of the rope. As knots go, it is not a particularly difficult knot to untie (of course the rope used and the tension applied influence how difficult any knot is to untie).

I have seen two ways of tying a butterfly knot and it is the knot I use on my rope suspensions for a tie off point for my bugnet's ridgeline.

Something you could do as protection against the fabric pulling completely through the whipping would be to do a "fat hem" at the end of the fabric, maybe a triple roll hem. This would serve as a jam if things start slipping.

Grizz

Good thought. But I was sewing the end hems while you were responding . I did, however, make sure the hems were wide enough that I could thread a length of 3 mm accessory cord through the hem to achieve the same goal, though that could be a bit too much.

Good thought. But I was sewing the end hems while you were responding . I did, however, make sure the hems were wide enough that I could thread a length of 3 mm accessory cord through the hem to achieve the same goal, though that could be a bit too much.

You won't need a full hammock width of cord...just enough to fatten out the end. For that matter it doesn't need to be just one contiguous piece. Maybe a number of short pieces spaced out inside the hem.

Obviously the cord will need to bend easily to go with the folds. Maybe paracord?

You won't need a full hammock width of cord...just enough to fatten out the end. For that matter it doesn't need to be just one contiguous piece. Maybe a number of short pieces spaced out inside the hem.

Obviously the cord will need to bend easily to go with the folds. Maybe paracord?

Grizz

Yeah, I'll do a bit of experimenting to see what gives me enough "knob" without being overkill. I should also mention that I have a couple of techniques that I've used before that result in very tight whipping. The one I've used most frequently is like a clove hitch repeated over and over again. The other one starts in the middle of a length of whipping twine and consists of single overhands repeating on opposite sides until the whipping is the desired length. If this verbal picture doesn't get across, and you're interested, I'll post pix.

Yeah, I'll do a bit of experimenting to see what gives me enough "knob" without being overkill. I should also mention that I have a couple of techniques that I've used before that result in very tight whipping. The one I've used most frequently is like a clove hitch repeated over and over again. The other one starts in the middle of a length of whipping twine and consists of single overhands repeating on opposite sides until the whipping is the desired length. If this verbal picture doesn't get across, and you're interested, I'll post pix.

I have the picture from your words (and there aren't even a thousand of them!)---I did monster lashing projects in Boy Scouts---but I'm sure others on HF would like to see pix.

At Grizz's suggestion, here are pix of a couple of "twists" on conventional whipping that make it easier to get tighter whipping. I tied them with braided cord on a broom handle to make it easier to see what's going on in the pix. The first consists of a series of clove hitches and looks like this:

Note how the clove hitches form a spiral. Worked with waxed whipping twine, as each clove hitch is added and pulled tight it stays reasonably tight as the next loop is added.
The second variation uses a single overhand to keep the work tight as you progress. It looks like this:
Begin with a suitably long cut length of whipping twine. Tie a single overhand knot, then bring both ends to the other side, tie another single overhand knot, and so on. End with a square knot. While more tedious than the clove hitch version, it allows an even tighter whipping--tighter than any other technique I've ever seen.